Daughters carry the spirit of their father with them to Game 7

Lulu and Sally Maldonado attended Games 6 and 7 of the World Series. (Hailey Branson-Potts / Los Angeles Times)

Louis Maldonado was a huge Dodgers fan.

And even though the 78-year-old Amtrak foreman died of lung cancer last year, his daughters say he is with them in spirit at Game 7 of the World Series.

Lulu Maldonado, 47, of Whittier and Sally Maldonado, 53, of West Covina said he would have loved this. While raising nine kids in Boyle Heights, he always talked about the team and had the games on TV.

“We used every last penny to get here,” Sally said. “It was worth it.”

The sisters came to Game 7 in matching T-shirts that showed Yasiel Puig sticking out his tongue. They attended Game 6, too, with their brother, who wore their dad’s old Dodgers jacket. Their brother dribbled food on it, and they said that meant their dad was there, because that’s what he’d always do.

Throughout the season, to honor Louis, they put his photo on the spot on the couch where he always sat to watch games. They put his hat, jacket and cane around it.

“Dad used to sit there and hit rewind so he didn’t miss anything,” Lulu said. “Our father led us to bleed Dodger blue, and we’re here for him, representing him.”

In the second inning, with the Dodgers trailing 5-0, fans in the stadium were stunned and angry, screaming curse words and too nervous to sit in their seats, crowding in the corridors as if to put some distance between themselves and the disaster unfolding before them with Yu Darvish on the mound.